Chapter 18
“Wowww,” Jacyn said.
Sienna and her girls were on a video call. Although it was still afternoon for her, it was late at night for them and they were willing to stay up to talk to her. To her, this was evidence of their unflinching loyalty.
Sienna looked down at her laptop screen, seeing the tiny images of her friends’ faces peering back to her, and was overwhelmed by gratitude that they were all so supportive. After returning to her townhouse from her parent’s place, she’d lost no time in setting up the call to unburden herself about the events of the day.
Now, they were busy trying to come to grips with the complicated situation Max had found himself in and discussing what it would mean for him and Sienna going forward.
“Still, though,” Jacyn said, “I think it’s sweet what Max did for his brother. If the couple had wanted a child so badly, and he had the means to help, why not?”
Chantelle cut in. “Well, it’s not as simple as just providing a sample and walking away. He wasn’t sending it to a lab to be used by a stranger; this was his brother. There were so many issues to consider. Knowing you’d have to watch your own child grow up, and be raised by someone else! That took some guts! I only wish he’d said something.”
Naisha added, “Plus, he had no way of knowing his brother and sister-in-law wouldn’t even have lived long enough to see the baby born. That’s a whole other kettle of fish right there.”
“Exactly,” Chantelle said. “That all just makes it super complicated. At this stage in the game, Max probably has a lot of decisions to make. His life is in upheaval. You sure you want to get entangled in that?”
“What are you saying?” Sienna asked. She had great respect for Chantelle’s incisive mind, and as her former employee, had witnessed many examples of Chantelle’s gift for sizing up people and situations.
“I’m saying it all sounds very messy. Sounds like you’re setting yourself up for chaos. Even heartache.”
“More heartache than she’s gone through the last few months?” Naisha countered. “She really likes the guy.” She leaned towards her camera, so that her face loomed. “I think he deserves a chance.”
“And I think that if he gets that chance and messes up,” Jacyn said, “He’s gonna spend the rest of his life in orthopedic shoes.”
Sienna chuckled at her friend’s fierceness. She had no doubt that if it came to that, Jacyn could make it so.
“How come you heffas didn’t tell me his family was loaded?”
“We tried to tell you!” Naisha said, sitting up straighter in bed. Sienna could see a part of William’s arm wrapped right under her breasts. “But you insisted on wanting him to be the one to confess his secrets.”
“Exactly,” agreed Jacyn. “Alexandre told me who his family was a few days after we came home with our baby, Will. Naisha and I did try to tell you. You told us that if he wasn’t married or a serial killer then you didn’t want to know.”
“Well, nothing can be done about that now,” Sienna conceded.
Shaundra put her two cents in. “My husband wants me in bed, so I’ll say this before I go. Honey, it’s all well and good for us to be giving you advice from the other side of the ocean, but when it comes down to it, this is your life. I think that what you do next should be guided by what you really want out of life, and the only person who can answer that question is you.”
Sienna was keenly aware of how late it was getting on the other side of the pond, and was sure that their husbands would be impatiently waiting for them to get to bed, so she thanked them all, blew them kisses and ended the call.
She let her mind run over everything they’d discussed, every nuance of this sticky situation with Max. Did she have feelings for him? Yes. Did he have them for her? She thought so. There was the slightest chance that it could work between them.
But how willing was she to take that risk? When it came down to it, Chantelle seemed to be making the most sense. A wealthy younger man with a complicated life was one thing, but throw into that a surrogate, an orphaned unborn baby, and parents who wanted to see their son married? It was way more than she had bargained for. That was enough to make up her mind.
She had agreed to meet with Max for lunch tomorrow, and as she got ready for bed, she rehearsed in her mind what she was going to say. She had to let him know she couldn’t be with him. What she wanted right now was stability, and Max’s life was anything but.
∞∞∞
She sat across from Max at the table at a quiet country club, trying hard not to get sucked in by how good he looked. He’d had a fresh haircut, and it was neat and crisp, allowing her an excellent view of his dark, seductive eyes.
“You aren’t eating much,” he said. “You okay?”
Sienna looked down at her food, not even realizing that all she had been doing was poking at it. She put down her fork with a rueful smile. “It all looks so good; I just haven’t had much of an appetite lately.”
“I can see that. You look like you’ve lost some weight.”
“You aren’t supposed to tell a woman stuff about her weight,” she half-joked.
“I can if I’m worried about her.”